Jung Heewon couldn’t understand why the giant had saved her.

The giant ran with her tucked against his huge side.

[Your incarnation body is badly damaged.]

Only after the waves of the end barely receded did the giant set Jung Heewon down on the ground.

[If you continue like this, you will die.]

Jung Heewon knew that too. Her incarnation body was already at its limit. To reach the end region of the apocalypse region, she had scraped out every last bit of potential buried within herself.

The reason she was still alive was obvious.

[Tale, ‘Regret, Ruin, Obsession’ continues the story.]

Her tale was keeping her alive.

[A peculiar tale.]

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint studied Jung Heewon closely, then asked.

[Is there someone you want to save?]

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint’s “Clear Mirror Eyes” shone brightly, and then began reading Jung Heewon.

[Are you perhaps an acquaintance of ‘that child’?]

Jung Heewon slowly lifted her head.

That child. Two syllables with no explanation at all, and yet Jung Heewon realized who it was referring to.

“You… know Mr. Dokja?”

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint nodded heavily and relayed a short story.

A man who suddenly appeared in the “apocalypse region” one day. An existence who joined the Transcendent Alliance, opposed the Great Nebulae, and the King of Terror, and ultimately crossed over into the final time stratum.

“I have to meet him.”

Jung Heewon tried to get up, staggering. But her body wouldn’t listen.

[I’ll say it again, you will die soon.]

Jung Heewon despaired.

She’d only just barely gotten to hear the story of the person she’d wanted to meet so badly, and now—

[Become my disciple.]

She jerked her head up, and the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint spoke.

[If you inherit ‘Undying Body,’ you can live.]

The moment she heard that voice, Jung Heewon understood instinctively. Maybe the reason she crossed this long span of time and entered the apocalypse region was to meet this person.

Jung Heewon let out ragged breaths and asked.

“If I become your disciple… can I protect him?”

A sentence broken to the point it was hard to understand what she meant. Even so, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint read the meaning contained in that sentence.

[Do you know what it means to protect someone?]

When Jung Heewon shook her head, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint said.

[If the one you want to protect is attacked by a constellation, you must fight that constellation.]

Constellations. Now Jung Heewon knew those terrifying stars well.

[If the one you want to protect is attacked by a nebula, you must stand against that nebula.]

A nebula. A vicious group made of terrifying stars gathered together.

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint continued.

[If the one you want to protect is attacked by a world, you must struggle against that world.]

“I know. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do.”

[I do not know a method for protecting someone.]

Not just the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint—no one would know a method like that. Still, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint extended his large hand and added,

[But if someone stands against the world, I can at least teach you a way to fight together at their side.]

From that day on, Jung Heewon learned the sword from the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint near the mid-region of the apocalypse region.

[Heaven-Breaking Steel Aura], [Heaven-Breaking Sword Art], [Vermilion Bird Divine Steps], [Heaven-Breaking Sword Thunder].

With her outstanding talent, she quickly mastered all things Heaven-Breaking.

[It has been a long time since I have had a disciple who polished the fundamentals this well.]

A swordsman with no great strengths, but not a single bad habit. That was the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint’s evaluation of Jung Heewon.

It was only natural.

After the scenario began, Jung Heewon had trained only one swordsmanship skill.

[Sword Art].

A path of the sword meant to draw trajectories faster and more accurately than anyone.

Watching her sword, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint told her the path she had to take.

[In the Heaven-Breaking Sword Sect, everyone breaks the sky in a different way. Some break the sky with dazzling sword strikes, while others cleave the sky with a single extremely refined sword.]

She also heard stories about the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint’s other disciples.

Tyrant King Yoo Joonghyuk.

The man she’d set as her goal was, surprisingly, her master’s disciple.

“How long do I have to train to become that strong?”

[That child is special. That one does not simply have ‘talent.’]

Not simply talent.

Jung Heewon chewed on what that could mean, over and over in her mind.

[Of course, you have tremendous talent. It has been a while since I have seen an incarnation who achieved ‘Transcendence’ by their own power.]

“But that still isn’t enough, right?”

[What you must overcome is not that child’s talent, but that one’s time. If you want to defeat that child, you will have to work several times harder than that child.]

“Still, that’s the field I’m most confident in.”

For several more years, Jung Heewon learned the sword from the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint. Repeating endless training and sparring, she learned the posture of facing the sword, and she learned how to stand against constellations.

[With this, I have taught you all the basics, so from here on, it is up to you.]

“This is only the basics?”

[Basics are enough. That ‘basic’ is your greatest strength.]

“But I still haven’t broken the sky.”

[To break the sky, you must first learn what that sky looks like.]

“So you mean I should carry out scenarios.”

In the end, this world was made of stories.

[Tale, ‘Regret, Ruin, Obsession’ wants to continue the story.]

And in this story-made world, every incarnation had to walk toward the completion of their ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) tale. Only an incarnation who walked that lonely, brutal road to the end would break through the limits of an incarnation imposed by <Star Stream> and become a true Transcendent.

[Yes, it is time to go back.]

That was how Jung Heewon and the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint escaped the apocalypse region together.

Watching her master’s broad back walking ahead, the one sleeve fluttering in the wind, Jung Heewon thought,

「Why would Master save her, even at the cost of giving up one arm?」

Of course, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint had answered her before.

[Because that is chivalry.]

But what the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint said was practically a kind of tautology.

[I saved you because I had to. That is all.]

Everyone knows saving a person is the right thing to do.

But can something being “the right thing” truly become a reason to save someone even at the cost of sacrificing yourself?

Still, Jung Heewon liked the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint like that.

It wasn’t simply because he saved her.

Her master, with his back straight, looking up at the sky. The sight of him, never yielding to any starlight, became a kind of indicator for Jung Heewon.

Proof of how far a single incarnation could climb in this terrible world of <Star Stream>.

No matter what enemies appeared before them, it felt like it would be fine if she was with her master. If she learned the sword at his side and grew stronger—then someday, when she met him again, she felt like she could become one proud person.

And cruelly, her small wish was finally shattered to pieces in the “New Murim Earth” she had at last arrived at.

Fable-grade constellations of Great Nebulae surrounding her master.

Her master, spilling blood-red tales from his eyes, stood against an entire world to protect someone, and said—

[Run, disciple.]

*

In a hazy consciousness, the Radiant Sword Emperor snapped back to herself. She had no idea when she’d lost consciousness.

Gack—tales spilled out.

From her poisoned incarnation body, shattered tales fell away. As her memories slowly reconstructed, her master’s last appearance rose vividly.

「[Run, disciple.]」

The strongest incarnation she knew. One who had reached the extreme of [Heaven-Breaking Sword Art], and a powerhouse who wouldn’t be pushed back even if she matched strength with those great fable-grade constellations.

But even the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint couldn’t withstand [Fate].

“Were you hiding there, Radiant Sword Emperor.”

The Radiant Sword Emperor reflexively activated [Vermilion Bird Divine Steps]. The abandoned building she had been hiding in until just before was sliced apart and collapsed.

The dust cloud scattering felt like the inside of her confused head.

Like someone trying to run from the memories chasing her, the Radiant Sword Emperor swung her sword. In her sword strike, the tales she had experienced over the past few months were contained as-is.

「The time she lost her master and swung her sword like a madwoman.」

“Found her! It’s the Radiant Sword Emperor! Kraaaargh!”

「The time she killed an ascendant.」

“This—crazy! Get out of the way!”

“That bastard’s almost at their limit too! Push in!”

「The time she became a wanted fugitive of ‘New Murim Earth’ and came to be called the ‘Radiant Sword Emperor.’」

“She’s too, too strong—”

“My arm! My arm! Aaaaargh!”

「The time she realized what ‘New Murim Earth’ really was, fought against the corporations, and finally destroyed the ‘orbital elevator.’」

Even as the dust cloud turned into a cloud of blood, incarnations kept surging in without rest.

[Recorders cheering for the Great Nebula’s ascendants are watching you.]

Terminal incarnations of Great Nebulae. And she could also see the ascendants leading them.

At the front stood Blood Jade Fist Demon Jo Jincheol and Paradise Holy Emperor Reinheit.

“Truly, it lives up to the name.”

“Hahahat! We finally caught you, Radiant Sword Emperor!”

When those who had reached early fable-grade joined the battlefield, the Radiant Sword Emperor began to be pushed into a defensive position little by little. It was burdensome to fend off the ascendants’ attacks flying in from all directions. In an instant, blood sprayed from her thigh and upper arm. Her breathing had already climbed to the very tip of her throat.

[Your incarnation body is in a dangerous state!]

Under normal circumstances, she would have had ways to escape no matter what. But right now, her incarnation body was poisoned. Maintaining a long battle with them was itself a huge burden.

‘There’s only one way.’

The Radiant Sword Emperor grabbed a sword lying on the ground and poured all of her magic power into the blade.

Heaven-Breaking Sword Art.

Ultimate technique.

Heaven-Breaking Meteor Strike.

Fragments of the sword, shattered like meteors, pierced through the entire bodies of the ascendants charging in.

“W-what—”

“Kraaaargh!”

The golden steel aura of Heaven-Breaking Meteor Strike swept the battlefield like a storm. The careless ascendants each rolled on the ground while clutching their pierced chest or arm or gut.

[Constellation, ‘Owner of Baekrokdam,’ is aghast at the Radiant Sword Emperor’s martial power!]
[Constellation, ‘Bald Militia Commander,’ is startled by the Radiant Sword Emperor’s martial power!]
[Constellations of the Great Nebulae grow wary of the Radiant Sword Emperor’s martial power.]

A martial power that swept away ascendants who had reached fable-grade with the strength of a single person.

The Radiant Sword Emperor exhaled the breath she had been holding and began to walk, staggering.

‘I’ll get out like this.’

But the moment she turned her back and was about to activate [Vermilion Bird Divine Steps], something grabbed her ankle.

It felt like every hair on her body stood on end.

It wouldn’t move, as if her foot had been fixed to the ground. It felt like hot heat was coming from somewhere, and the surrounding floor was burning.

A hallucination that burned the world with nothing but a gaze.

The Radiant Sword Emperor knew well whose ability this was.

[Constellation, ‘Flame of Purification,’ is staring at you.]

When she slowly turned her head, there was the shining incarnation body of a constellation.

Under the brightly opened sky, the Backlash of Plausibility swept in.

Over the incarnation body of an ascendant writhing in pain, the constellation was descending.

[Constellation, ‘Flame of Purification,’ half-descends into this scenario region!]

A constellation that had already surpassed fable-grade and was even aiming for myth-grade. One of the eight Lokapala of the great <Veda> was staring at her.

[Child, you rampaged too severely.]

Flame of Purification, ‘Agni’.

One of <Veda>’s Lokapala who had confined her master that day.

The Radiant Sword Emperor charged at Agni without hesitation.

If a Lokapala-class had appeared, there was nowhere to run.

She had to stand against it. Just like her master had that day.

Transcendent-type Stage 4.

Her tale, exploding in a single moment, seized the surrounding area. The golden current carried on [Heaven-Breaking Sword Art] surged up.

Watching the Heaven-Breaking sword strike flying toward him, Agni said,

[Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint has taken a remarkable disciple.]

A sword strike that tore Agni’s flame, one of the eight Lokapala, and dealt a blow to his incarnation body.

[If you had only had a few more years, another Transcendent who scorns constellations would have been born.]

If the opponent had been an ordinary fable-grade constellation, it would have been an attack they couldn’t block. Even so, Agni received that blow. It wasn’t simply because Agni was a Lokapala of <Veda>.

[You will die here.]

Because the rules of this world were not on the Radiant Sword Emperor’s side.

[Recorders of this scenario are invoking ‘Fate’!]

[Fate]. That damned curse that had confined her master was now being assigned to her.

「The Radiant Sword Emperor also knew it. Right now, she cannot kill Agni.」
「Her poisoned incarnation body was shattering in real time.」
「The magic power that had reached its limit had been exhausted long ago.」

With sentences binding her entire body, Agni’s two fists, which had been pushed back for a moment, moved. The Radiant Sword Emperor let out a groan at the fist strike laden with vast tales. Pain like her grip was being crushed.

「Facing the end, the Radiant Sword Emperor thought.」

A storm of scorching heat was pounding her entire body.

Shattered tales poured out endlessly from her seven apertures.

「“Why are you going that far, Heewon?”」

Leaking fragments of tales circled around her.

The question that had brought her here.

「“You could really die. You heard what kind of place it is. Who is that person, anyway?”」

Bad with words, she was powerless before that question. But in her place, her sword was answering.

A sword she had swung to protect someone, or because she wanted to protect them. That sword was speaking in her place.

「At least while she was swinging her sword for someone, she felt like an endlessly special person.」

Something that made her, who was nothing, become special.

Someone who was once Cheon Inho, and now is called Kim Dokja. Protecting that person. The desire to protect.

“I—”

Maybe she hadn’t searched for him for his sake. Maybe she had only wanted to keep feeling this special sensation.

“I saved you because I had to. That is all.”

Only then did the Radiant Sword Emperor feel like she understood her master’s words a little. “I saved you because I had to” wasn’t just a story about righteousness.

「I save because I must save, and I protect because I must protect.」

A truly important reason to live can only be a tautology.

Her knees buckled, and Agni’s fist drew near.

「At last, it was the Radiant Sword Emperor’s end.」

Even in the last moment, she didn’t close her eyes. Instead, she stared straight at the incoming fist.

Even if she couldn’t protect what she wanted, she opened her eyes wide to prove she hadn’t given up on it to the very end.

And in that moment, Jung Heewon witnessed a strange sight.

「At last, it was the Radiant Sword Emperor’s en—」

A sight she could witness because she didn’t close her eyes to the end.

Agni’s fist was slowing down more and more.

「At last, it was the Radiant Sword Emperor’s en—」

The scenery of the world was slowly being covered in black and white.

「At last, it was the Radiant Sword Emperor’s—」

In a scene like white snow falling, she heard the sound of the rules of spacetime breaking.

「At last, it was the Ra—」

The sentences of [Fate] that had bound her were scattering. The skull mask covering her face rattled and fell away.

「At last—」

What filled the blank space of shattered fate was a single line of sentence written in this world solely for her.

「At last, Jung Heewon slowly lifted her head.」

Since when was it?

A small window had been floating in front of her eyes.

[A Horror Recorder, ‘One Who Rewrites Eternity,’ requests a ‘record contract’ from you.]